Attempts have been made in the past to prevent electrical supply cords from twisting and being damaged by operators who must direct power hand tools in continuous circular patterns. For example, in the manufacture of round table tops, jigsaws are often employed to cut wood or ply-board and such materials may be cut with a hand-held electrical jigsaw in a continuous counterclockwise direction. After one or more tops are cut the operator must stop and untwist the electrical supply cord which may be suspended from an overhead power source. In use, after sufficient twisting has occurred, the power supply or drop cord may be damaged and has to be repaired or replaced at great expense. Continuous circular movement of power hand tools normally occurs in furniture manufacturing, cloth cutting in garment plants and in other types of manufacturing and maintenance facilities.
With the known problems associated with electrical supply cord twisting, the present invention was conceived and one of its objectives is to provide a rotatable electrical connector which is easy to install between an electrical supply cord and a power hand tool and which can be readily adapted to a variety of power hand tool uses.
It is another objective of the present invention to provide a rotatable electrical connector which is relatively simple in construction yet which will provide convenience to the user and will prevent windings in supply cords when a hand tool is operated in a circular direction.
It is still another objective of the present invention to provide a rotatable electrical connector for electrical supply cords which can be easily manufactured for various voltages and which is equipped with a ground wire.
While the apparatus has been, or will be, described for the sake of grammatical fluidity with functional explanations, it is to be expressly understood that the claims, unless expressly formulated under 35 USC 112, are not to be construed as necessarily limited in any way by the construction of “means” or “steps” limitations, but are to be accorded the full scope of the meaning and equivalents of the definition provided by the claims under the judicial doctrine of equivalents, and in the case where the claims are expressly formulated under 35 USC 112 are to be accorded full statutory equivalents under 35 USC 112.
Any feature or combination of features described herein are included within the scope of the present invention provided that the features included in any such combination are not mutually inconsistent as will be apparent from the context, this specification, and the knowledge of one skilled in the art. For purposes of summarizing the present invention, certain aspects, advantages and novel features of the present invention are described herein. Of course, it is to be understood that not necessarily all such aspects, advantages or features will be embodied in any particular embodiment of the present invention. Additional features, advantages, objects and aspects of the present invention are apparent in the following detailed description, accompanying drawings, and claims that follow.